Midnight Visitor
by starry night blue
Summary: [ONE-SHOT] It's another summer's night at the Potters', and a young James Potter is up writing a homework essay, when a young Sirius Black pops up his window and climbs inside...


**D/C: I don't own Harry Potter… (Sigh)**

**Ok, folks! This is my first Harry Potter fic! I never would have thought of writing one but the idea of this one seemed so tempting I just couldn't resist! Anyway, I hope you like it!**

**Enjoy!!**

**MIDNIGHT VISITOR**

James Potter lay on his front on his bed, with a thick book about werewolves propped up against the pillows before him, and a long roll of parchment spread out in front of him. He sucked at the tip of his quill thoughtfully as he scanned the contents of his book.

_Lycanthrope…must find something about lycanthrope…_

He really hated it when the teachers gave them holiday homework. Holidays were meant for enjoyment and freedom, not for sitting here till a late hour at night looking in thick volumes of books for information would fill twenty inches of parchment.

He had looked up the meaning of lycanthrope in his dictionary, and had spent a moment staring incredulously at the meaning; the method to turning into a werewolf.

_Who the hell would want to turn themselves into werewolves, anyway?_

He thought of Remus, and how this homework had amused him when the Professor first assigned it to them. Maybe he should write to Remus in the morning and ask for help in this, because he certainly wasn't getting heads or tails of the whole thing.

He slammed the book shut, rolled up the empty parchment, and screwed the lid of his ink bottle, and carried the whole lot to his desk, with the tip of his quill still stuck firmly in his mouth. He tipped them all onto his desk, and started to head back to his bed to get some rest; it was already two o'clock in the morning. The only reason he was up so late doing homework was because school was only ten days away, and he still had another couple of essays to write as well.

He had just started to pull back his sheets, when the window burst open and some one stumbled into his room.

James grinned as he looked down at his midnight visitor, and plopped down on his bed. 'Well, well, well, look who's here,' he said. 'I was wondering when you might show up.'

Sirius grunted in reply and leaned back outside the window to look down on something. 'My trunk's still down there, come down and help me with it,' he told him.

'Sirius, buddy, there's something known as a door, you know,' James teased him.

'Very funny,' Sirius snapped. 'In case you haven't noticed, it two in the morning, I didn't want to wake up your folks…now come down and give me and hand with my trunk!'

They left the room, and went downstairs to the front door. They lifted the trunk each by a handle, and lifted it up to James's room. They slowly put it down to the floor, careful not to make any noise. Then James closed the door while Sirius sat unlocking the trunk.

'Took you a little longer to come this year,' James said, sitting back on his bed. 'I was starting to get worried about you.'

'Security measures were real strict in the house this year,' Sirius said, without looking up. 'You won't believe the number of things mum and dad put around to prevent me from escaping! I spent ages trying to get past them!'

James laughed. 'Like what?' he asked.

'Like security trolls standing guard on the door, for instance!' Sirius said, sounding weary and exasperated as he said it.

James laughed again, harder this time. 'No way! Trolls?' he cried.

'You'd better believe it,' Sirius muttered. 'My dear sweet mum is even planning to use the trolls' legs as umbrella stands once the hideous things snuff it.'

'Really!' Sirius went on, while James laughed harder, clutching his stomach with one hand while he pounded on his bed with the other. 'I mean, other sorts of magic I could deal with, but trolls? Please!!'

'Your parents are too much, seriously,' James said, gasping for breath.

'Tell me about it,' Sirius muttered. He pulled a sleeping bag out of his trunk and spread it against the wooden floor. 'So, how's your summer been going? Mum has created a sort of invisible boundary around my room, and none of your owls could get past.'

James smiled. 'It was fine, actually, we went and spent a couple of weeks in Scotland, my folks were visiting some friends of theirs…' he said. 'They were weird though, tried to force dad and me into wearing those skirts of theirs!'

Sirius grinned. 'I think you mean quilts,' he told his friend.

'No matter what their name is, they'll still look like skirts to me,' James said, shaking his head. He looked at Sirius, who was pulling on a pair of pajamas and a sweatshirt. 'What about yours? What did you do, apart from trying to get past the trolls?'

'Nothing, just had to listen to Regulus's continuous boasting of how he became a Prefect while I didn't, and my mum was gushing and cooing over him the whole time…did you ever think my mum would know how to coo?' Sirius said, looking slightly baffled.

James shook his head. 'Never even considered it,' he admitted. 'By the way, how'd you get past the trolls?'

'I put some very strong sleeping antidote in their food,' Sirius told him.

'Why didn't you do it sometime earlier?' James inquired.

Sirius grimaced. 'I would have if mum fed them on regular basis…she only feeds them once a week, and stands guard over them while they eat…I couldn't get close to them, and that wretch of a house-elf, Kreacher is of no help…he used to run yelling to my mum whenever I got so much as ten feet close to them,' he mumbled.

'Jeez! I pity you, mate, I really do,' James said, sympathetically.

'Gee, thanks,' Sirius said sarcastically. He scrambled into his sleeping bag and pulled the zipper up to his chest. 'Now if you'll excuse me, I need to rest, I just crossed 200 miles on my broomstick, and I'm damn tired! We'll have a nice, long chat in the morning over breakfast, alright?'

But before he could so much as close his eyes, a large tawny owl flew in through the open window, and perched itself on top of James's books.

'Now what?' Sirius said, irritably.

'It's Ikue!' James exclaimed, hurrying over to the owl. 'She's got a letter from Lily!'

Sirius propped himself up against his elbows and watched as James quickly remove the letter tied around the owl's leg. 'Man, I still can't believe you're going out with Evans!' he said. 'The girl used to hate you ever since our first year!'

'Yeah, me neither,' James said, fumbling with the letter. 'Thanks to Snivellus, that is…if it weren't for me standing up for her when he called her what he did…Lily wouldn't have ever given me a second thought.'

'What does she say in the letter?' Sirius asked with keen interest.

'Ok, I'll read it out to you,' James agreed.

'_Dear James,_

_Your last letter was extremely nice, thank you…by the way; you're a fast replier, aren't you? Why, I had just sent the letter when Ikue came back two hours later with a reply from you! I don't mind, though, I think it's very sweet…_

_Guess what? I got my letter from Hogwarts and I'm a Prefect!! Can you believe it? Me! A Prefect!_'

'Oh, damn!' Sirius moaned. 'A Prefect?'

'Just what we needed,' James mumbled. 'Oh, did I tell you Remus is a Prefect as well? He wrote to me this morning.'

Sirius moaned again. 'Continue reading, anyway,' he said, unhappily.

'_Now don't you two start laughing or cursing…yes, you TWO, because I know you're probably there, Sirius, and that James is reading out the letter to you…_'

Sirius laughed. 'Man! She's too much!' he exclaimed.

'_…I'm very happy to become one and I won't let either of you ruin it for me, understand?_

_So far, I've had a very good summer, my aunt Eva dropped by today and she was really nice. Of course, my summer would've been better if it weren't for my sweet sister. Honestly, Petunia has a way of getting you to feel that you're really unworthy! She's driving me nuts! She keeps coming up behind me when I'm reading and starts clucking her tongue and shaking her head in dismay, as if she thinks all this is useless! Why can't she be like everyone else and accept the fact that I'm a witch? You'd think that after five years she'd accept it, but noooo! Sweet Petunia has to make life a living hell for her sister!...you know, telling you about this makes me feel better…now Petunia, you can curse and laugh at as much as you want._

_By the way, I'm going to Diagon Alley next week to get my books and stuff, any chance of meeting you there?_

_Love from,_

_Lily._'

Sirius shook his head as he laughed. 'Poor Lily! Her sister sounds far more horrible than Regulus!' he exclaimed. 'Hey! What are you doing? Don't tell me you're going to write back to her now!'

James was rummaging around the room for parchment and ink. 'Yeah…so?' he asked.

'James, it's two in the morning,' Sirius told him. 'Even if you send her a letter now, she won't read it until maybe ten in the morning.'

'But…' James started.

'Believe me, she's not standing by the window waiting for your reply,' Sirius told him, the corners of his mouth twitching. 'Besides, I think another journey will make Ikue drop dead.'

James sighed. 'Yeah, you're right,' he agreed. 'Let me just put Ikue in her cage, then.'

He put the brown, tawny owl in her cage, and went back to his bed. He scrambled underneath the sheets and pulled them up to his chin. He crossed his hands behind his head as he stared up at the ceiling, which was bewitched the exact same way like the Great Hall in Hogwarts.

'Hey, Sirius,' he said quietly.

'Hmm?' Sirius said.

'Do you think…? Do you suppose Lily and I will stay together? I mean…' he said.

'Are you kidding? James, if there is one thing I'm sure about in this world, it's that you and Lily will be together forever,' Sirius said, chuckling. 'I'm even planning on carrying your kids around on my back one day.'

James smiled at the mental image. 'Good night, Sirius,' he said quietly.

'Good night, mate,' Sirius said, stifling a yawn.

James turned over in his bed and turned the bed lamp off.

It was just another summer night at the Potters'.

**-**

**A/N: Yes, that's it. That's my story. I know it's pretty short and has an abrupt ending, but that's the way I had planned it. I'm sorry I had to change some stuff from the basic plot; like for example Lily and James dating from fifth year, when they had only started going out together in the seventh year…and the thing about Sirius running to the Potters every summer…or was that really there in the plot?**

**Well, anyway, if you did like it, then please review! I'm ready for your comments!!**

_- S. N. B. _


End file.
